eagle land

every year in say, november, i think i've got to remember to go see the eagles in squameesh this year!  then every year in feb or march i kick myself in the shins because i forgot again.  this year i almost forgot but remembered last minute like.  eagles are famously thick, as i told fatima, in squameesh this time of year.  in fact i think mid december is the best time and maybe next year i'll go in december.  but mid december is usually not the time of year to go eagle watching so probably not.  anywho, i remembered this year and then had no one to go with until my friend scott stepped up to the plate and agreed to go with me.  

i aimed to get there at 8:30 because they feed on the banks of the river in the mornings and after that they're mainly in the trees.  well we got to 'eagle run', supposedly the best eagle viewing spot, at quarter to nine.  it was foggy and frosty.  eagle run is a section of dike along a river.  across the river is a provincal park which offers protection and habitat for willing eagles.  we didn't see anything but two young people.  we stopped to ask them if they had seen any eagles.  scott asked them where they were from and low and behold they were from sweden!  i told them that i had lived there for a year and a half and the boy asked me if i knew swedish and then i got to speak swedish with them.  it was great.  my favourite part was when the girl said in surprise that my swedish was quite good.  i'm not going to lie--that's nice to hear.  

meanwhile we found one eagle who flew past us to a tree roost and then a juvenile in a tree near by.  i was feeling kind of let down.  maybe we were too late for the  famous thickness.  but then we met a volunteer and she told us some other places to go, so we left to go explore.

so it was that we found ourselves parking on a dirt road behind the animal shelter and way too close to the sewage treatment plant.  the dogs all barked as we got out of the car. we breathed into our scarves.  scott wanted to head down wind from the sewage plant which seemed a wise thing to do, but i just wanted to look from the bridge to see if i could see anything up or down river.

and in a tree right beside the bridge we met this fellow.  note how foggy it was.

it was like this eagle was a route marker.  like he stationed himself there to show us the way because from the bridge i saw a trail heading down beside the river.  so we followed it. along them path here there were twigs and branches with this weird hair like frost on them. at first i thought it was fungus. i naturally took a click or two of it but now that i look at it in the picture it just looks like ice.

scott obliges me.

scott and i, a and b.

all along the path we could hear the shrill skittish eagle cries echoing around us.  and we saw some here and there.  we began to keep count.

the trail was mainly in the woods with wanderings to the river bank now and again.

i did this by accident and then enjoyed it.

this pic is skinny and that's the way it was meant to be.  it is it's destiny.

so we were walking under this bridge and i saw a glimpse of a giant wing soaring.  sure enough it was an eagle.  i wish i had a shot of that first glimpse.  this eagle was my favourite because it was low down and not lost in the wilderness of bare branches.  and it gave me a tiny window of time to get out my bigger lens.  it's a lens that requires a lot of time and patience to manually focus.  it should also have a tripod.  i had my gorialla pod and tried to stabalize the camera against my body using that.

but the gentleman fled.  and so i abandoned clarity and clicked as much as i could.  the results are dream-like (ie. blurry) and i happen to really like them.  it so caught my imagination while editing.  so prepare to see 3 images, 3 different ways each.:

look at his wings!  god wasn't kidding around when he gave eagles wings. i love just looking at this photo.  it's the might and glory unfurled. it's the moment just before the powerful lift off.

it gives added insight to these scriptures:
Exodus 19:4 " ... how I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto myself."
Jerimiah 48:40 "For thus saith the Lord; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab."
D&C 124:99  And he shall be led in paths where the poisonous serpent cannot lay hold upon his heel, and he shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts as upon eagleès wings.

and my favourite: 

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

my favourite thing about these next photos are the tips of his wings.  they look like dahlia or chrysanthemum petals. i love that.

and now his wings are boats that sail in the sky.  good bye eagle friend.  sorry if i disturbed you.  you're beautiful and i have a crush on you.

we continued on our way.  and found this eagle and a friend of his in a tree.  it was funny because we heard their cries and i was like it feels like they are right by us!  and scott touched my arm and pointed up.  well they were right above us looking down at us through their talons as it were.  i took a pic of his tail feathers.  why not.

just down from these two was the tree i liked to call eagle jackpot tree with four eagles in it.  see if you can find them all.

after a while hanging out by eagle jackpot tree, the sun started to burn through the fog. thus the blue sky background in this pic.

another view the jackpot tree.

we saw eagles left  right and centre after that.  all in trees.  next time i go to eagle land i'm going to be much earlier to get some sightings of them eating on the banks of the river.

me chillin on the rocks.

scott.

me again.  hi.

hey a smooth stone with ice on it.  cool.

sun bursting through fog.

and from this spot we went back.  it was 11:15 and i was hungry.  but the path continued to beckon to me to me. i always want to see where the path leads, what will be around the next bend or over the rise.  you know?  

all in all we counted 27 eagles that day.

and we washed them down with some white spot afterwards.

on the way home the sun blazed and the world was beautiful.  there is no highway as lovely as the sea to sky highway.  scott snoozed and i did my best not to hit other cars and was rather successful in my endeavours.

that's the end of eagle day in eagle land.